Schwarzenegger goes rogue on image

HE could have had a prolonged ride into the sunset and a cushy retirement job on the back of who knows how many Expendables movies, but Arnold Schwarzenegger continues to make other films that trade just a bit too heavily on his past as an action star. The best that can be said of his latest effort is that it makes his last two movies (Escape Plan and The Last Stand) look like Casablanca and Citizen Kane.

That may be a slight exaggeration, of course, but there's no denying that viewers of Sabotage, about a renegade team of undercover drug enforcement agents, will be subjected to a ludicrous storyline, an overload of gratuitous violence and the kind of painfully cliched dialogue that will make you cry for your mamma.

Arnie, who has had his share of iconic roles (featuring his muscles more than his acting prowess) and movie lines to fill a small book, has shown little inclination to simply fade away gracefully - and that's a pity, because at 66, he's in danger of turning into a sad caricature of his former self. He's often in on the joke, but the joke may finally be on him.